July 25, 2016
We have gotten to a point where we still have a mountain of stuff to do but we are also stuck waiting for parts and re-thinking the build.
For example, we just completed the front brake lines but are on hold with the rears since we are waiting for the rear disc brake calipers. Issues with Ford supplies have us going back to Factory Five for a new designed caliper that current lead times are 8 weeks.
We procured the battery and installed it, but the rest of the electrical is waiting on getting the engine started outside the car.
For that we are waiting on the fuel tank to be checked out - it's a favor so it on the back burner - our fault since we said we wouldn't need it for months. That was because we were going to do the wiring without checking it out on the ground, our change in strategy has us waiting now.
We also just discovered that the chrome exhaust header pipes we got on the cheap won't work with the EGR ( exhaust gas recirculation) pipe on the 1997 Lincoln 4.6L engine we are using. The parts store lead us to believe that these ones for the Mustang 4.6L would work, so we need to rethink the exhaust strategy.
We could jump ahead and for example, install the aluminum panels floor, but then it would make the wiring much more difficult. We could assemble the suicide door frames, but the real trick is to adjust them to fit the body and that's a long way off. We could mount the grill and radiator, but then we could damage them when we install the engine. This goes on and on and it seems the best thing is to wait out the part lead times and avoid the sauna-like heat conditions of August in Chicago. Good thing is that there is no rush since the purpose of the build is just doing it with family.
July 8, 2016
Last night I went to a concert and halfway through the show I couldn't help but think about family businesses and how they develop. I was seeing Neil Finn. He was is the groups Split Enz and Crowded house. He has also done solo work and a couple of discs with his brother Tim. Last night his backing band was his family - wife Sharon ( bass guitar), and son's Liam (lead and rhythm guitar) and Elroy ( drums). It was hard not to make the comparison to our family business and could see a few generations of this type of band working things out. Currently, my brother is the band leader and headliner, when I was growing up it was my father, and a few years from know it will be David and Jacob.
I picked up on little things like how Neil, still the father, chimed in a few times to acknowledge and correct a few mistakes and the boys wanting to make their father proud - the family banter was great!
It was a great show, but more it was another reminder of how families in business work together and alone.
Addendum:
After JoAnn read the post, and we realized that Neil Finn was playing in Milwaukee and we could make his show there on 7/9. We caught his 4:00pm set at Summerfest. Here is a photo with all his family in the shot.
July 5, 2016
We mounted the transmission to the engine and spent a few hours getting it in. Isaac and David were helping out.
With the transmission bolted up, the engine had less play and is really tight up against the firewall. We are not happy with it so we installed the drive shaft to see if we had enough play in the spline to move the motor mounts forward an inch to give the engine a bit of space between it and the firewall. It looks like we have a good amount of play so out will come the engine so we can move the motor mount brackets or add some mounting holes an inch or so forward.
We can move the engine about 2 inches forward before the aircon compressor will hit the front part of the frame. Everything is so tight. It will also give us a chance to bolt up the exhaust headers as installing them while the engine is in is nearly impossible.
While we have the engine in, we started to look at the wiring to see how we could route the looms from the 1997 Lincoln Mark VIII which we will be using for the computer, fuel pump, ignition system with anti-theft and the EFI ( electronic fuel injection).
It was a real mess as we first just were trying to get an idea of where things would be routed.
After looking at what remained we realized that we still had some extra circuits that could be cut out since we would be using a second wiring system for lights, AC, gauges, speedo, turn signals...
Cutting out another pile of wires and using zip ties to organize the looms, things are starting to look a whole lot better. Once we are happy with it, we will wrap it to keep the wiring from getting nicked or cut.
We also decided that since we will be taking the engine out again, we should hook it all up outside the cramped quarters of the frame and see if it still runs. If not it will be much easier to troubleshoot on the floor than in the frame. Also, if we give up on the donor car wiring, it will be easier to install a new wiring loom without having to work it through the routing holes we would make with the donor wiring loom.
In the next few days, we will be taking the engine out once again.
